This OpEd is being sent on behalf of Lyndonville Redemption, Buzzy's Beverage and Redemption, Loiselle Redemption, Beverage Warehouse, Putney Rd Redemption, Beverage Baron, Thompson's Redemption Center, Olivia's Market, Mike's Gas and Redemption, Bristol Beverage, Morrisville Beverage, Coles Redemption, and Vermont Redemption Inc.
Vermont’s bottle bill has been part of our state’s environmental and recycling system for more than 50 years. 88% of Vermonters report that they support Vermont’s bottle bill system, and they understand the value of keeping beverage containers out of our roadsides, parks, and streams, and they know the bottle bill works.
But the system only works because redemption centers do the hard work of collecting, sorting, and processing the containers that make the bottle bill possible. Today, those centers are still operating under a handling fee that has not been increased in 19 years, even as labor, equipment, rent, fuel, utilities, and every other business cost have climbed dramatically.
When the handling fee was last adjusted, Vermont’s minimum wage was $7.68 an hour. Today it is $14.42 an hour, and the wage that can retain employees is higher still. Under H.915, consumers will continue to pay the 5-cent deposit and manufacturers and distributors would pay the 1-cent increase, currently 3.5 or 4 cents per container, to the redemption centers and retailers that take back these containers.
Redemption centers are the foundation of Vermont’s bottle redemption system, and they deserve a fair handling fee that reflects today’s costs and preserves access for consumers across the state. Some redemption centers have already invested heavily in better equipment and more efficient operations, including expensive technology that can cost tens of thousands of dollars or more, which has improved their ability to serve customers but has not reduced costs. Several others have been forced to close because they could no longer cover their increasing costs with the low handling fee.
If Vermonters want a strong bottle bill, they should tell their legislators to support an increase in the handling fee for beverage redemption. Fair compensation for redemption centers is not a giveaway - it is what keeps the system working for consumers, retailers, and the environment.
Please call or email your legislators and urge them to support an increased handling fee for Vermont redemption centers.
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